This is the next stage in the great abortion debates. ++++++++++++ Mark A. Theissen Washington Post Can an unborn child feel pain? That question will dominate the abortion debate in America for the next several years thanks to Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska. Last week, Heineman signed the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act into law, banning abortions in Nebraska at and after 20 weeks based on growing scientific evidence that an unborn child at that age can feel pain. … [Read more...]
Wesley J. Smith: At what cost?
March 25, 2010 11:03 PM
To the Source Obamacare is now the law of the land. Because health care and wellness are such essential parts of our lives and our culture, America will never be the same. For now, Obamacare preserves a private financing system—no public option. Nonetheless, it still represents a government takeover of healthcare. By eliminating risk assessment–and seizing control of benefit determinations—government bureaucrats will now choose winners and losers. Because we are all now ensconced in the same closed system, we each now have a direct financial stake in the health care received by every other one of us. Government control is, by definition, intensely political. Politically powerful “in crowds” are rarely denied what they want, while “out crowds” may be excluded altogether. The same will be true in health care. Canada is a vivid example, where terminal cancer patients are routinely refused life-extending chemotherapy by cost containment boards, while … [Read more...]
Leadership: Is the microphone on?
March 23, 2010 10:25 AM
Fr. Basil Basil Biberdorf over at The Orthodox Leader laments the Orthodox silence on the recent health care legislation. Some of Fr. Basil's comments: The recent turmoil surrounding the recent passage of healthcare legislation by the United States Congress is providing ample opportunity to look at the absence of Orthodox leadership. Despite the scandalously equivocal language used by the Ecumenical Patriarch in discussing abortion (c.f., here, here, here, and here), the Church’s teaching cannot be misunderstood. Worse, at least one professor at Holy Cross Seminary is reportedly elated at the passing of this legislation. To those bishops (especially those whom I have overlooked) and my brethren who are speaking against the wanton destruction of these little ones, I thank you and pray that your efforts would yield much fruit by strengthening and encouraging the Orthodox faithful to stand firm against such wanton destruction of human beings. To the others, the bigger … [Read more...]
Papal Environmentalism: Pro-Life and Pro-Marriage
February 20, 2010 3:04 PM
Ethics and Public Policy Center | George Weigel In his January 11 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI continued to carve out an interesting Catholic position on ecology. The Pope insists that care for creation is a moral obligation that falls on both individuals and governments. His very invocation of "creation," however, challenges the secular shibboleths that underwrite a lot of contemporary environmental activism. Here is the money paragraph in the papal address to the diplomats assembled in the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace: "Twenty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the materialistic and atheistic regimes which had for several decades dominated a part of this continent, it was easy to assess the great harm which an economic system lacking any reference to the truth about man had done not only to the dignity and freedom of individuals and peoples, but to nature itself, by polluting soil, water, and air. … [Read more...]
Wesley J. Smith: Unless we all matter
February 15, 2010 7:45 AM
The Source "God loves each of us, as if there were only one of us." - St. Augustine. If you want to accurately predict what could soon go wrong in society, just read the professional journals. Case in point: A bioethicist named Alasdair Cochrane, a deep thinker at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights in the UK, argued recently in Bioethics that we should discard our (already tenuous) embrace of intrinsic human dignity as the foundational basis for establishing medical ethics and enacting health care public policies. Eschewing human exceptionalism and the sanctity of human life would have huge ramifications, and in urging what he calls an "undignified bioethics," Cochrane does not shy away from describing the stakes: …the possession of dignity by humans signifies that they [all people] have an inherent moral worth. In other words, because human beings possess dignity we cannot do what we like to them, but instead have direct moral … [Read more...]
James J. Jatras on the Manhattan Declaration
January 27, 2010 11:28 PM
James J. Jatras, advisor to AOI, explains why he signed the Manhattan Declaration. For more video go to Peter and Helen Evans website. … [Read more...]
Pan-Orthodox Sanctity of Life Sunday Presentation
January 27, 2010 7:19 AM
Ancient Faith Radio presents Frederica Mathewes-Green speaking at the second annual Pan-Orthodox Sanctity of Life Sunday Presentation. The presentation was sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Clergy Association of Greater Chicago and took place at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cicero, Illinois. Listen here: … [Read more...]
Robert P. George: Why I signed the Manhattan Declaration
January 24, 2010 5:02 PM
Peter and Helen Evans are posting interviews with signers of the Manhattan Declaration. The latest is Robert P. George. They have around 20 interviews including some Orthodox signers on their site www.peterandhelenevans.com. … [Read more...]
Sanctity of Life Observations Encouraged by Bishop BASIL
January 19, 2010 5:07 PM
His Grace Bishop BASIL, in his St. Raphael Clergy Brotherhood newsletter on January 8, encouraged the faithful and clergy of his Diocese to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision with prayers, volunteer work with local pro-life ministries, and participation where possible in the Washington D.C. March for Life. His Grace writes: FRIDAY, JANUARY 22nd will mark the 37th anniversary of the infamous decision given by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case known as "Roe v. Wade." Please find below two links about how Orthodox Christians will observe that day: 1. Read the invitation issued to all Orthodox Christians from METROPOLITAN JONAH of the Orthodox Church in America: http://www.oca.org/news/2043 His Beatitude will head the large crowd of Orthodox Christians who will gather in Washing, DC from throughout our nation to participate in the 2010 National March for Life.. 2. Schedule to serve the "Service of Supplication for the Sanctity of Life" with your … [Read more...]